Competitors unite to form orthopedic super group’

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 26, 2008 at 11:14 PM

South Shore Orthopedic Associates and South Shore Orthopedic Specialists spent years laboring to grow their respective practices in friendly competition. But with their sights set on making South Shore Hospital a “destination” for those seeking orthopedic care throughout the region, the two practices decided last year to join forces.

A.J. Bauer

South Shore Orthopedic Associates and South Shore Orthopedic Specialists spent years laboring to grow their respective practices in friendly competition.

But with their sights set on making South Shore Hospital a “destination” for those seeking orthopedic care throughout the region, the two practices decided last year to join forces. Two months after the groups merged in December, the waiting room of what is now called South Shore Orthopedics at 51 Performance Drive in Weymouth is bustling.

Dr. Michael Marchetti, who was previously with South Shore Orthopedic Associates, said that with the exception of a few technology-related kinks, the transition has been smooth. No staff or physicians were lost in the process, giving the new practice a staff of 52, including 10 physicians and three physician assistants.

The two physicians’ groups closed their respective offices in Weymouth to consolidate into the new, 13,000-square-foot space.

Marchetti said South Shore Orthopedics hopes to be more than the sum of its component practices. He said the “super group” gives the doctors a stronger position for bargaining with hospitals and coordinating programs and services.

“Also, from the doctor side, in general doctors like working with other doctors,” Marchetti said. “For one, to bounce ideas off of them so you can get a quick second and third opinion on something. It’s a luxury an individual practitioner doesn’t have.”

The new practice maintains the old practices’ primary hospital affiliation with South Shore Hospital, which Marchetti said they hope to help set apart from other area hospitals as a “coordinated muscular, skeletal regional center.”

Much of the $250,000 spent on technology for the merger, Marchetti said, has gone to a new X-ray machine. Given the practice’s size and investment in the latest technologies, he said he hopes to attract more orthopedic specialists into the practice.

“As this grows, people will come and see this is a big deal as opposed to our small offices,” Marchetti said.

By increasing confidence among patients, South Shore Orthopedics hopes to convince them it may not be necessary to go to Boston for treatment – that the South Shore offers comparable quality of care.

Marchetti said South Shore Orthopedics sees as many as 1,500 patients a week, but he expects that number to grow as the new practice gets its bearings.

“We haven’t refused anyone, but we’re purposely trying to minimize (our patient load) just so we can get things up and running,” Marchetti said. “But now, it’s ready to ramp up a bit more because roles are better defined here now.”